1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the production of dichloroacetoxypropane and derivatives thereof which are raw materials for useful organic products.
2. Description of the Related Art
The term "dichloroacetoxypropane" as used herein refers to 2,3-dichloro-1-acetoxypropane, 1,3-dichloro-2-acetoxypropane or a mixture thereof. Further, the term "dichloropropanol", as used herein refers to 2,3-dichloro-1-propanol, 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol or a mixture thereof.
A process for producing dichloroacetoxypropane by reacting allyl acetate with chlorine in a liquid phase is described, for example, in Khim. Prom., No. 5, 277-280 (1981), Khim. Prom., No. 6, 328-335 (1982) and Japanese Examined Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. 52-16091. The reaction is represented by the following formula. ##STR1##
These conventional techniques all relate to the reaction in a liquid phase and use a metal salt such as a metal halide as a catalyst. However, when a metal salt is used as a catalyst, the catalyst must be separated and recovered after the reaction. Moreover, the metal salt dissolves into the reaction solution and the separation and recovery of the dissolved metal salt presents another problem. In order to prevent the metal salt dissolving, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 52-16091 proposes a supported catalyst in which a metal salt is supported on a support. However, it is still difficult to prevent the metal salt dissolving out of the support.
Furthermore, in all the above-described conventional techniques, the reaction of allyl acetate with chlorine is effected in the presence of an organic solvent. The use of an organic solvent has, however, a problem in that a recovery step therefor is necessary or loss of the organic solvent is caused at the time of recovery.
There is still another problem in that since the production of dichloroacetoxypropane by the reaction of allyl acetate with chlorine is an exothermic reaction, external cooling or the like is necessary in order to obtain dichloroacetoxypropane with high efficiency and this causes a loss of energy.
As a conventional technique for chlorination in a gaseous phase, a reaction of ethylene with chlorine is known (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,099,231). However, a method of producing dichloroacetoxypropane by reacting allyl acetate with chlorine in a gaseous phase has not hitherto been reported.